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10 Volunteers Go Public With Their DNA

Database will divulge what really makes a Harvard man, and other genetic secrets

By Katherine Thompson, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 20, 2008 10:51 AM CDT

(Newser) – Ten volunteers, including some rather well known ones, are exposing themselves online, the New York Times reports, by making their DNA available for anyone to peruse. The goal of the Personal Genome Project is to start making genetic information—along with personal traits called phenotypes—publicly available, a move whose scientific usefulness is huge and whose social implications are unclear. That's why the first group consists of only experts or investors in the field.

With data going public today, we could potentially tell whether Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker is predisposed to Alzheimer's, or whether astronaut-in-training Esther Dyson is prone to heart attacks. But the way the “PGP 10” see it, the research possibilities of a 100,000-person database—the project's goal—are worth the risk of being stigmatized.

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Harvard psychhologist Steven Pinker is one of the "PGP 10," the 10 initial subjects of an online, open-access genetics database. (AP Photo)

Dr. James Watson, who was involved in the discovery of the structure of DNA, has had his genome sequenced and made it pubic, but isn't sure that's a wise option for younger people. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Some of the concerns for people who put their genetic information online may not even be known yet, some say. But others contend that free access to genomes is the fastest way to advance science. (Getty Images)

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I put mine out there, but I’m 80. Randomly putting up young people’s genomes could cause individual harm, simply because there will be so many mistakes. - James D Watson, one of the discoverers of DNA's helical structure, on divulging genetic information

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10 Volunteers Go Public With Their DNA